The invention relates to a hair and/or body care product for humans and animals, in the form of a powder applicable directly to the hair or the body.
It also relates to the process for manufacturing this product.
The product according to the present invention may be used as a shampoo for washing hair and/or the body, as a hair detangling product, as a xe2x80x9cconditioningxe2x80x9d product or also as an exfoliant for the body.
Several forms of shampoo are known in the prior art. The conventional form is liquid shampoo. Nevertheless, shampoos also exist in the form of gels, creams or aerosol mousses.
Shampoos in solid form have also been proposed in the prior art. However, these xe2x80x9csolidxe2x80x9d shampoos are always in the form of shaped products, for example bars, pellets or tablets. Reference may thus be made to the following patents or patent applications: U.S. Pat. No. 4 012 341, WO 93/07245, EP 0 330 435.
French patent application FR 95 08265, filed by the inventors, may also be cited, since it describes a hair care product for humans or a hair treatment product for animals in the form of tablets which have a rather short disintegrating time on the hair. This product is very easy to transport and exhibits good storage stability, even in a damp atmosphere. However, this tablet-form presentation has certain disadvantages. In particular, it has been noted in use that the tablets do not disintegrate wholly satisfactorily in the case of thick hair. These problems seem substantially to stem from the fact that the hair has to be very thoroughly wetted for the tablet to produce acceptable results.
However, in any case, it was never seriously intended in the prior art that a shampoo in powder-form should be applicable directly to the hair or the body, since it was inconceivable that such an application could provide satisfactory results.
It is of course true that powder-form shampoos have already been proposed, but it should be emphasised that they were always designed to be dissolved before use, which, as far as utilisation is concerned, puts them in the same category as a liquid shampoo.
Charles Zviak, in xe2x80x9cScience des traitements capillairesxe2x80x9d (Masson, 1988), thus described powder-form shampoos to be dissolved at the time of use in order to obtain a liquid shampoo. He pointed out in this publication that powder-form shampoos to be dissolved at the time of use are used less and less, despite the fact that they constitute the cheapest form. According to Zviak, this is because they are not very convenient to use. To this may be added the difficulty of adding high quality ingredients to a pulverulent product which has to dissolve very easily at the time of use.
As far as the inventors are aware, the only document which mentions use of a powder-form shampoo is patent application DE 4214480. This document provides a very brief description of a process for using a hair shampoo reduced to a powder, this process being characterised in that a shampoo reduced to a powder by drying is sprinkled on the wet hair and mixes with the water to produce a normal shampoo.
However, from reading the six lines which comprise this patent application, it is clear that it relates to a conventional liquid shampoo formulation which has been dried to convert it into powder form.
Due to this process for drying liquid shampoo, the resultant powder obviously contains only the active ingredient, that is to say substantially surfactants.
Given this extremely high active ingredient content (actually approaching 100%), the inventor of the above-stated German patent application could indeed expect to achieve an acceptable result from applying the dehydrated liquid shampoo directly to the hair. However, it should be noted that the description, which could not be any briefer, of this patent application does not contain any details as to composition or any evaluation of the results obtained.
The fact remains that the powder in question, obtained therefore by drying liquid shampoo, cannot on any account be economically viable, nor provide the advantages which will be described below in relation to the product according to the invention.
The latter is characterised in that it is in the form of a powder which contains at most only 40% active ingredients, that is to say washing products or lather-producing products.
For this reason, the powder-form product according to the present invention is capable of comprising other products such as perfumes, colourings, antioxidants, vitamins, essential oils, plant substances, seaweed, these being in markedly greater quantities than in a normal liquid shampoo or in the powder obtained by drying a liquid shampoo, as described in patent application DE 4214480.
Surprisingly and unexpectedly, the hair and/or body care product in powder form according to the present invention has very satisfactory washing and lather-forming capacities, despite the fact that the powder contains a percentage of active ingredients considerably lower than the only powder-form shampoo mentioned in the prior art.
The hair and/or body care product for humans and animals which constitutes the subject matter of the present invention is characterised in that it is in the form of a powder applicable directly to the hair and/or the body and in that it comprises less than 40%, preferably less than 35%, and still more preferably less than 30%, of at least one surfactant, these percentages being expressed as percentages by weight relative to the total weight of the powder. The percentage is made up to 100% by one or more products selected from the group comprising sugars, starches, celluloses, polyols, proteins, amino acids, perfumes, colourings, antioxidants, plant substances, seaweed, vitamins, essential oils and mineral fillers.
The surfactants used in the hair and/or body care product according to the invention may be surfactants of the anionic, cationic, nonionic or amphoteric type.
Anionic surfactants are preferred, owing to their good washing and lather-forming capacity. Examples which may be cited are alkyl sulfates, such as lauryl sulfates, alkyl and aryl sulfonates, olefin sulfonates and secondary alkyl sulfonates, alkyl ether sulfates and the esters of sulfosuccinic acid.
Use is preferably made of the sodium lauryl sulfate sold under the brand name TEXAPON K 1296, the disodium cocamido MEA sulfosuccinate sold under the brand name REWOPOL SBC 212P, and the fatty acid methyltaurides sold by HOECHST.
Cationic surfactants are most particularly suitable for specific applications such as the treatment of severely damaged hair and/or as detangling products for hair.
The product preferably used is sold by HERCULES under the brand name N HANCE 3196.
Of the nonionic surfactants, most exhibit the disadvantage of having only a poor lather-forming capacity. There are exceptions, however, examples of these nonionic surfactants which may be used within the context of the present invention being polysorbates, and polyglycerides and polyethoxylates of fatty alcohols.
The product according to the present invention preferably comprises a decyl polyglucoside nonionic surfactant, such as that sold under the brand name ORAMIX SP100.
Finally, amphoteric surfactants may also be used in the product according to the invention, since they have a good lather-forming capacity and are additionally very gentle on the hair. The amphoteric surfactants preferred within the context of the invention are derivatives of betaine. The product sold by GOLDSCHMIDT under the brand name TEGOBETAINE CKD is preferably used.
The hair and/or body care product according to the invention may also comprise a surfactant for increasing the lather-forming capacity (xe2x80x9cfoaming agentxe2x80x9d). Copra fatty acid monoethanolamide, sold under the brand name COMPERLAN 100 is preferably used.
Examples which may be cited of sugars which may be included in the product according to the invention are glucose, glucose syrups, mannose, fructose, sucrose, maltose and maltose syrups, lactose, maltodextrins.
Starches suitable for use as fillers in the hair and/or body care product according to the present invention comprise potato starch and wheat, corn and rice starch.
Examples of polyols which may be cited are sorbitol, mannitol, lactitol, maltitol and in particular the products sold under the brand names NEOSORB P 60, NEOSORB P 100 T or MALTISORB P 90.
Examples which may be cited of proteins and amino acids suitable for inclusion in the hair and/or body care product according to the present invention are milk proteins, including caseinates, vegetable proteins such as wheat or soya proteins, keratin, in particular that sold under the brand name MONTEINE WKHP, cysteine, methionine. The formulation may also include products such as soya lecithin.
According to a preferred embodiment of the invention, the granulometry of the powder is between approximately 30 and approximately 500 microns, preferably between 60 and 300 microns, and still more preferably between 60 and 150 microns.
The powder-form hair and/or body care product according to the present invention may comprise approximately 0.3 to 12% perfume, optionally encapsulated or applied to a support, the percentages being expressed as percentages by weight relative to the total weight of the powder. The perfume content is preferably between 1 and 8%, and still more preferably between 2 and 6%. This possibility of including such a high percentage of perfume in the product according to the invention constitutes a decisive advantage of the present invention.
The powder-form hair and/or body care product according to the invention may also comprise vitamins, colourings, treatment proteins, encapsulated essential oils, depending on the specific requirements for the product.
Vitamins which may be added are vitamins B2, B5 and B6, vitamin PP and vitamin C.
The powder-form hair and/or body care product according to the invention may advantageously be packaged in single-dose form, in individual amounts of 2 to 10 g, such packaging being most particularly suitable for travel and sports products or those supplied by hotels.
The powder-form hair and/or body care product constituting the subject matter of the present invention produces a rich lather and also has a very pleasant exfoliating effect when used to wash the body.
The invention also provides a process for preparing the powder-form hair and/or body care product.
Said process comprises the following stages:
the ingredients to be included in the powder are selected;
where applicable, the volatile ingredients or those sensitive to light or heat, such as perfumes, essential oils, vitamins, are encapsulated or applied to a support;
the various ingredients are mixed intimately;
the mixture is optionally pulverised, and then screened to arrive at the selected granulometry;
the product is packaged.
Maltodextrins, liposomes or cyclodextrins are advantageously used for encapsulation or application to a support of the sensitive ingredients. Examples of suitable cyclodextrins are the products sold by ROQUETTE FRERES under the brand name KLEPTOSE.
Mixing is performed using methods known per se, such as a planetary mixer.
Mixing may be performed at a temperature between 5xc2x0 C. and 25xc2x0 C. Mixing is preferably performed at ambient temperature.
The product may be packaged in sachets or tubes, for example.
A great advantage of this simple process for preparing the product according to the invention is that it is easily possible to modify the contents of the powder, thereby adapting it to the specific needs of consumers.